The first meeting of the Indian National Congress took place in Bombay in the last week of December, 1885. Late last year, the Congress held a function in New Delhi to mark
the beginning of the year in which the party was to celebrate its 125th anniversary. At this meeting, the Congress president observed, according to a magazine report, that
"Rajivji did not stay with us to see his dreams being realised, but we can see reflections of his thoughts in the party manifesto for the 1991 elections. That became the
basis for economic policies for the next five years. These policies gave a new direction and strength to our economy and our society".

I do not have a copy of the Congress election manifesto for 1991 at hand. It may perhaps have mentioned the need to liberalise the economy. In his first term in office,
Rajiv Gandhi had removed government controls from key areas, such as computers. But he was at that time a cautious and hesitant liberaliser. The real dismantling of the
licence-permit-quota raj took place under the leadership of P V Narasimha Rao, prime minister of India between 1991 and 1996.

Sonia Gandhi's assertion at that anniversary function was a clear attempt to deny Narasimha Rao the credit for freeing the economy from the shackles of State control.
Sitting next to her on the dais was our current prime minister, who, of course, served as finance minister in Rao's government. One does not know what he was thinking when
his party president ascribed the reforms to her late husband. For the fact is that had Rajiv Gandhi not been assassinated, and had he come to serve a second term as prime
minister, someone other than Manmohan Singh would have been assigned the finance portfolio. Singh was hand-picked by Rao, who then gave him the freedom to implement the
policies of economic liberalization with which he has since been associated. Had it not been for Rao, then Singh may now have merely been a Professor Emeritus of the Delhi
School of Economics (which had offered him a position weeks before he joined the government in the summer of 1991).

Narasimha Rao may be denied the credit by the present Congress leadership for taking the Indian economy well above the 'Hindu rate of growth' of two to three per cent per
annum. But they do not let the public forget his greatest defeat, which was his failure to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December, 1992. Rahul Gandhi once
remarked that had his father been alive, he would have placed his body between the kar sevaks and the building they brought down. The implication was that if
Narasimha Rao wanted he could have done likewise.

When he unexpectedly became prime minister, Rao sought to break out of the shadows of the dynasty and become his own man. His speeches rarely invoked
Indira or Rajiv. He rarely called upon Sonia Gandhi, either, and in any case never took her counsel.

Apart from sustaining the process of economic liberalisation, Narasimha Rao was also responsible for our 'Look East' policy, where we balanced our traditional orientation
towards Europe and America with the forging of closer ties with the rising nations of Southeast Asia. That policy has been furthered by the present government, again without
reference to its originator.

From the point of view of the present Congress leadership, Rao's problem was not just that he was not a Nehru-Gandhi, it was also that as prime minister he did not genuflect
enough to the Nehru-Gandhis. In the past, he had been content to silently (and perhaps slavishly) serve Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. But when he unexpectedly became prime
minister, he sought to break out of the shadows of the dynasty and become his own man. His speeches rarely invoked Indira or Rajiv. He rarely called upon Sonia Gandhi,
either, and in any case never took her counsel.

Now that the Nehru-Gandhis once more control both party and government, P V Narasimha Rao has become the great unmentionable within Congress circles. I should modify that
statement - Rao can be mentioned only if it is possible to disparage him. Thus his contributions to economic growth and to a more enlightened foreign policy are ignored,
while his admittedly pusillanimous attitude towards the kar sevaks in Ayodhya is foregrounded. It appears that Sonia Gandhi has not forgiven Rao for setting aside decades of
subservience to the First Family and asserting himself when he was prime minister. The message has gone down the line -thus senior ministers do not ever mention a prime
minister they worked with and were sometimes indebted to. The party spokesmen, meanwhile, are free to charge him with crimes he may have committed, as well as with those he
may not have committed.

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, there was something known as the 'Stalinist falsification of history'. When Joseph Stalin became general secretary of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, he proceeded to purge the party and the government of opponents and critics, real, potential, or imaginary. These men (and less often, women) were
first thrown out of their jobs, then sent to prison, and finally, executed. Among Stalin's victims were many authentic heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution, such as Leon
Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin. By the late 1930s, Stalin was verily Russia's Great and Unchallenged Dictator.

But he was not content with controlling the present - he wanted also to control the past. Under his direction, history books and encyclopaedias were rewritten to blacken out
the names and contributions of Trotsky, Bukharin, and others. Photographs were also doctored - so, for example, Stalin was made to appear much closer to the founder of the
revolution, V.I. Lenin, than he actually had been.

Our leaders are no Stalinists. They are far more confused and weak. Moreover, they operate within a democratic system. But where they do resemble Stalin is in their vanity
and insecurity. They cannot purge or kill former colleagues, but they can at least disparage their contributions, while magnifying their own.

In this, its anniversary year, how will the Congress seek to write or re-write its own history? In the 125 years of its existence, the party has produced a series of
impressive and important leaders. In the books, pamphlets or publicity materials brought out this year, how will these leaders be remembered and recalled? How much will the
Congress worker of today be acquainted with the life and work of that remarkable Pune twosome, the liberal Gopal Krishna Gokhale and the radical Bal Gangadhar Tilak? Now
that a woman is president of the party, will its historians and propagandists recall the great women leaders of the past, such as Sarojini Naidu, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay,
and Sucheta Kripalani?

And how will they remember those Congressmen who played a key role in nurturing the party during the freedom struggle but parted ways with the organization after
Independence? Will, for example, such charismatic and greatly influential individuals as J.B. Kripalani, C. Rajagopalachari, Jayaprakash Narayan and Rammanohar Lohia be
mentioned at all in the speeches and commemorations of this anniversary year? And how much space will the party's collective memory now find for its most outstanding
president, K. Kamaraj, and its brilliant prime minister who died early, Lal Bahadur Shastri?

Indians are an unhistorical people. It may be that it is ignorance rather than malign intent which will lead to these (and other) names from the Congress's past being
overlooked in the party's ongoing celebration of its very long life. But the treatment of Narasimha Rao by the party he once led is another matter. To forget his
achievements, but to remember his mistakes, is a product of cold and deliberate calculation.

Ramachandra Guha04 April 2010

Ramachandra Guha is a historian, and a regular columnist with The Telegraph of Calcutta.

Revathi Siva Kumar
Yes, appreciation of PVNR is long overdue. But while the Congress is ungenerous, why doesn't the Press accord him his rightful place in history as a major statesman and first revolutionary of India's liberal economy?

April 04 2010, 10:20 AM ·
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Janani
Article recalls the old economic reforms by then prime minister Mr. Rao and it emphasize how congress forgets all the good things of a wise persons. History still a class room subject in India.

April 04 2010, 10:35 AM ·
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alfred renyi
Deeply appreciate your timely aricle. Selective amnesia, so to say. The same applies to Congress's subtle poignancy against Lokmanya Tilak, who invariably laid the path for Bapu to take off, politically (through the ideas of swaraj and boycott) and morally (through the case of stitha prajna, from Gita Rahasya). In fact, how much does Gandhi matter to the Congress now (though trivial, except for the NREGA, no other program is named after anyone outside the Dynasty)!

April 04 2010, 12:57 PM ·
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R
PV made course correction to most of the mistakes that were done in the 50 years preceding his assent to the chair of prime minister. His commissions or omissions were not as damaging as say those done in Kashmir or Punjab by our rulers. We lost millions of lives and crores of public money. But PV's path breaking and innovative initiatives in economic, foreign, security policies have corrected past mistakes to put India on the Global map.
Has anyone who blames PV for Babri, discussed the implications of confrontation with the Sadhus? He was far more far sighted than the self proclaimed intellectuals and commentators in the media and congress.

April 04 2010, 8:06 PM ·
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RK
If our country is reaping the benefits it is due to the path-breaking reforms that were initiated by Shri PV Narashima Rao. We are fortunate to have had such a person at helm of affairs. No doubt every person will have certain weakness and he cannot be singled out for that ... we salute this great man and his visionary policies.

April 06 2010, 9:16 AM ·
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Amit Kumar
"Singh may now have merely been a Professor Emeritus of the Delhi School of Economics" -- I would like to point out the use of the term "merely" is uncalled for here. Another thing to note is how much a Professor Emeritus can achieve if provided with amicable grounds. It makes all the more sense that we accord appropriate respect to the academicians.

April 07 2010, 5:16 PM ·
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Shobhan
What an excellent article. The Congress Party's obsession for the Nehru-Gandhi family is somewhat revealed in this article. Also revealed is the party's 'great' habit of forgetting its real great leaders and of idolising paper tigers.

April 08 2010, 9:25 AM ·
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Jumru
The sad part is that Manmohan Singh who owes everything to PVNR stays silent on the subject. But then he is not loyal to anybody. But as somebody said correctly let the press and the media take a lead in correcting the record and history.

April 11 2010, 2:27 AM ·
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Akshaya Kumar
If the Nehru-Gandhi family is equated with the great Indian National Congress, it speaks volumes about the servile attitude of senior congressmen, who are all the time seen paying their respects to even the shadow of not just Mrs. S but also to the next generation Mr. R. The present PM is there on the hot seat only to keep it safe till it is handed over to the next generation of the dynasty. By the way, it seems Mr. Guha doesn't aspire to get a Rajiv Gandhi fellowship or a Padma award in the foreseeable future. I am very happy about it! Otherwise he will also go the way of most journalists in our country today.

April 20 2010, 12:06 PM ·
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nparry
Excellent article. The pot-bellied monsters who lurk in the shadows of Sonia are too afraid to invoke the name of PVN Rao. They're afraid Mama will break their spineless backs.

April 23 2010, 3:15 PM ·
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Bhavesh
I think not only the congress party but the people of this nation also suffer from selective amnesia & the credit for creating this amnesia also goes to the Indian media. In 2008 when Barack Obama was elected the president, many journalists from both print & electronic media declared Rahul Gandhi as his Indian equivalent. How do you expect such people to see who is a better leader?

May 01 2010, 7:14 PM ·
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Ajaya
While I appreciate comments and agree with the article 'Selective memory' may also apply to Guha's articles. I have not seen mention of Patel's name in this article and PVNR's work in his book "India after Gandhi"

May 08 2010, 6:27 AM ·
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Aleem Khan Falaki
He was never a politician, merely a good clerk under Mrs. Gandhi. His feet-kissing ability promoted him to the post of Prime Minister. That was the most unfortunate part of the Indian History. Brought up with RSS fascist philosophy he tarnished the image of India and split down the country into two burning sections i.e. Hindu and Muslim. He was the architect of Babri Masjid demolition and subsequent hatred, generating Hindu and Muslim terrorists.

May 10 2010, 5:55 PM ·
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Sridhar
Rao is the greatest person to have set foot in Modern India. A whole generation is indebted to him. Sonia and her stooges may like India to forget PV. But the more they disown PV the more this generation and the gen X will adore him. Jai PV. Jai Bharath

August 07 2010, 3:33 AM ·
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prashin
Sonia and Rahul have so much tarnished his image that all the Muslims feel Rao has done very bad for the country. Someone said the Media can highlight Rao's achievements. Media is controlled by Power and Money. Many major media companies have the backing of Sonia. The others which do not have not to bother about history as it does not matter to them.

December 03 2010, 6:23 PM ·
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Abhay
Its sad that PVNR is a forgotten man today when he is the most important man in getting India out of the crisis we were in 1991. An organization that cannot honor its heroes is doomed to destroy itself. U can see this in the Congress of today. Apart from Pranab Mukherjee, who is again sidelined by the Congress today, there is no mass leader in the Congress Party. The party has projected a PM who does not understand consensus building so very important in winning a LOK SABHA seat as he has never fought an election. Due to this reason, the conversation between the government and opposition is at its worst in the history of Independent India.
Also, to project a 40 year old scion of a dynastic legacy with no experience in governance as a prime ministerial candidate governing the fortunes of 1.20 Billion people is cavalier at best. This speaks of a acute lack of leadership in the Congress best indicated by the fact by the events thrown up in the Anna movement in August.
Even at the state level, where there were strong Congress leaders in the past who had the authority to question the policies of the party, today we see only subservience rewarded. Loyalty and not Merit is rewarded in Today's congress. How else can you explain people like Vilasrao Deskhmukh, Shivraj Patil still retaining their "privy" purses. This has led to a throw up of regional hegemonies who literally control policy level at the center.
Finally and tragically, we have a Congress, rich in tradition and secular, having a national footprint, having a very undemocratic and dynastic setup.
And we have a principal opposition, who has a democratic setup, having strong regional leaders BUT communal in their agenda.
This begs the question, WHY do we not have a choice of a party that combines the values of both. Which can be both democratic in its processes and setup and non communal in philosophy. A throw back to Nehru;s time i guess rich in leaders having independent thought processes.

January 18 2012, 8:06 AM ·
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